Sofia Coppola’s ‘The Bling Ring’ to Close Seattle Film Festival

The North American premiere of Sofia Coppola‘s “The Bling Ring” will serve as the closing-night attraction at the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival, a 25-day event that draws more viewers than any other U.S. festival.

“The Bling Ring,” which will have its world premiere at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section, stars Emma Watson and tells the story of a group of L.A.-area youngsters who broke into a string of celebrities' houses.

The film will close SIFF on June 9, almost four weeks after the festival opens with Joss Whedon‘s “Much Ado About Nothing” on May 16.

In between, the fest will screen 272 features and 175 shorts from 85 countries. The full lineup, announced on Tuesday by SIFF organizers, also will include Pixar’s “Monsters University,” Peter Greenaway’s “Goltzius and the Pelican Company,” Nat Faxon‘s and Jim Rash‘s “The Way, Way Back,” David Gordon Green‘s “Prince Avalanche,” Joe Swanberg‘s “Drinking Buddies” and Lucy Walker‘s “The Crash Reel.”

The festival’s centerpiece gala will be the Morgan Neville documentary “Twenty Feet From Stardom,” about the lives and careers of notable backup singers. Special tributes will be presented to actor Kyle MacLachlan, a Washington native, and to British director Peter Greenaway, who will give an illustrated talk after a screening of his latest film.

SIFF will also debut its African Pictures Program, which has been partially funded by a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and which will include 18 films from Africa, including Tobias Lindholm’s “A Hijacking,” Yousry Nasrallah’s “After the Battle” and Bryan Little’s “The African Cypher.”

In addition to 49 world premieres, 48 North American premieres and 17 U.S. premieres, the festival will present a number of films that have been well-received at previous fests, among them the Sundance entries “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” by David Lowery and “The Spectacular Now” by James Ponsoldt and the Telluride and Toronto film “Frances Ha” by Noah Baumbach.

A number of the films will be eligible for the Golden Space Needle Awards, which will be presented on the final day of the festival.

Steve Pond, awards editor at TheWrap, is also author of the L.A. Times bestseller The Big Show. He has been covering entertainment for more than two decades, and is the industry's most knowledgeable Academy Awards prognosticator.